CIA — Edward Law

The Problem

Construction projects stall when mistakes go unreported and data stays siloed.

Construction projects often postpone due to mistakes — and data reporting is delayed between the field and the office. Site managers lacked the tools to spot and escalate issues in real time, leaving problems undiscovered until they had already become expensive delays.

CIA was built to close that gap: a cloud-based collaborative platform for project information and workflow management, accessible across iOS, Android, Desktop, and Web — wherever the team happened to be.

The Goal

Keep everyone on the same page — all in real time.

Provide project progress and productivity data in real time, to every stakeholder — from the site manager in the field to the project director in the office — so that delays can be avoided before they happen.

Design Principles

Three principles that guided every decision.

Keep everyone on the same page

Real-time access to project mistakes and conflict reports — documented and shared transparently across the entire team.

Effective Communication

Whether from the owner, client, field, or office — everyone stays informed on updates, change orders, and job progress using the same accurate data.

Keep Projects Moving

Coordinating actions and approving items quickly — ensuring the right people see the right information with seamless flow between field, office, and the entire team.

My Role

Led design across all platforms from 2018 to 2021.

Product Design Lead

Sole designer responsible for the full product across iOS, Android, Desktop, and Web — from concept through to delivery.

User Research

Identified and addressed user pain-points with site managers and project teams through ongoing research and feedback loops.

Style Guide & Visual Language

Defined and maintained a consistent visual language across four platforms — typography, brand colours, light and dark mode, colour styles, and button types.

Design Handoff

Produced annotated specs and handoff documentation, bridging design intent and engineering implementation across all platforms.

Design

Report Journey

Throughout the journey we provide tools and educate site managers to check and report construction progress regularly. The key strategy: discover and fix mistakes as soon as possible to prevent project delays — keeping every stakeholder, from field to office, informed in real time.

Report Issues Flow

A streamlined mobile-first flow that removes friction from the moment an issue is spotted on site. A site manager taps the camera icon, captures or selects a photo, uploads it, fills in the issue details, and submits — all in under a minute. Speed and simplicity were critical: if reporting felt like effort, it wouldn't happen.

Site Photos

Final UI

The delivered screens — designed with a consistent visual language, using CIA's brand green and slate colour palette. Key interactions include filtering issues by category, viewing issue detail, inline photo and video capture, batch updating records, and confirming destructive actions like delete — each carefully considered to reduce errors in a high-stakes field environment.

Capture